GM recalls some Chevy Bolts once again due to fire risk

General Motors must once again fix its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles because of fire risk.

The automaker had to recall 142,000 Bolts globally a few years ago because of the issue. On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted a recall of 107 Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs, which is an SUV-like styling of the vehicle, over a fire risk. This new recall covers model year 2020-22 Bolt vehicles that were previously repaired for such a risk.

In its post, NHTSA stated, "The installation of advanced diagnostic software may have failed. As such, the high voltage battery could catch fire when charged to full or nearly full capacity."

NHTSA said Chevrolet dealers will reinstall advanced diagnostic software free of charge to fix the problem. Until then, NHTSA advises owners with the impacted vehicles to take the following steps to avoid a fire risk:

GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said the automaker is not aware of any Bolts having caught fire due to this problem. He said GM's voluntary recall of certain Bolts is being done to correctly install advanced diagnostic software from "an earlier field action involving these vehicles.

"The software may fail to identify defective battery modules that require replacement, increasing the risk of a potential vehicle fire," Kelly said. "The safety and satisfaction of our customers are our highest priorities and we’re working to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”

This latest recall, while a small number, still poses a serious risk. It comes after GM suffered customer scrutiny and a lawsuit following three recalls of its Bolt and Bolt EUVs starting in late 2020 and culminating nearly a year later with a total of 142,000 Bolt vehicles recalled globally starting with model year 2017 going through model year 2022.

Those recalls were due to battery defects that could start a fire. Eighteen Bolts had caught fire while parked; GM confirmed 13 of them were caused by defective batteries.

GM and LG Energy Solutions, its battery maker for the impacted Bolts, replaced the defective batteries with enhanced battery packs and gave the Bolt owners new limited warranties of eight years or 100,000 miles. LG reimbursed GM for $1.9 billion in costs and expenses associated with the Bolt recall because of manufacturing defects in battery modules that LG supplied.

The Bolt, which GM had been building at Orion Assembly in Orion Township, went out of production in December 2023 so GM could retool Orion Assembly to starting making the Chevrolet Silverado EV by mid-2026. GM will reintroduce the Bolt using its newer Ultium propulsion system in 2025.

By April of this year, only a handful of new Bolts remained on dealership lots. The Bolt had been GM's bestselling EV, so the automaker said it would bring out a new version of it in 2025 and it will be built at GM's Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas.

NHTSA said owner notification letters are expected to be mailed Dec. 16 and owners may contact the Bolt EV Concierge Team at 833-382-4389.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.